tonight, a father's search for his children. his two sons taken, one child 4 years old. his brother not even 1. both were kidnapped by their own mother, spirited away across the world to another culture, another kind of justice. now, that alone would be bad enough. but all of this happened nearly a dozen years ago. today michael shannon's two sons are 16 and 12 and nearly unrecognizable to him. try to imagine what that's like for a father. his long and sometimes lonely battle to get them back is far from over. in fact, it gets more heartbreaking by the day. tonight, his story and his wife's. that's right. we'll also talk to the mother who defied a court order and

took her children and his all those years ago. tonight investigative correspondent drew griffin with "kidnapped to egypt: a father's nightmare." >> reporter: it is all michael shannon has left of his sons. a final picture. adam at 4, jason just 10 months. >> i can't stop picturing them as a 4- and a 1-year-old, or a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old. and i've had no photos, and i'm trying to imagine what they would look like at 16 and 12 and hoping that they don't hate me for not saving them. >> patty cake. patty cake. baker's man. >> reporter: this is a story you could tell a thousand times over. an international kidnapping to

egypt, a country that takes in billions of dollars in aid from the united states but refuses to recognize international law when it comes to returning the united states' stolen children. >> yay! >> reporter: according to court records, michael shannon's sons were illegally taken here 12 years ago by their mother. and despite winning every court case since, despite rulings that his american citizen sons must be returned to their father, the illegal separation has lasted more than a decade. >> nothing has worked. >> reporter: attorney stephen cullen is an expert in fighting international custody battles. >> if we went over there -- >> reporter: he's taken on shannon's case for free because he says even the united states government isn't helping. >> and it's horrible to have to

admit to michael we've all failed him. the system has failed him. the legal system's failed him. we've all failed him because nothing has happened to get his children back. >> reporter: it is an international nightmare that began with a most american of love stories. in 1995 michael shannon was a computer specialist in chicago when his best friend invited him to a company softball game. the company was the engineering giant bechtel, and on that softball field he met a bechtel employee, nermeen khalifa, and fell in love. >> she was in your eyes american. >> americanized. yeah. i didn't find out until three months after we were dating that her father was born in cairo. >> reporter: her egyptian father was an extremely wealthy and powerful businessman who made sure his daughters, including nermeen, were born u.s. citizens. it wasn't long before michael

shannon and nermeen khalifa were married. and michael found out just how wealthy the khalifa family was. >> for a while was it a good marriage? fun? >> sure. of course. i got to travel to zurich and stay at a chalet and spent three weeks in sharm el-sheikh in cairo and alexandria. in a $3 million mansion in el alamein on the mediterranean. and her father wanted me to stay there. >> reporter: osama khalifa was very successful. chairman of bechtel egypt. he sat on several egyptian government boards of the then dictator hosni mubarak. and he still runs his financial and banking consulting firm near the family apartment building he owns. but one thing osama khalifa did not have was a grandson to take over his empire. >> he wanted grandsons. >> oh, yeah. he had four daughters and six granddaughters and no male children. ♪

>> reporter: but that changed soon after nermeen and michael were married. >> come. >> reporter: adam shannon was born on february 2nd, 1997. the first male grandchild of the khalifas. nermeen's mother came over for the birth. pictures show a beaming mother, father, and grandmother. there was even time for a family visit to cairo. michael shannon says his father-in-law was so overjoyed to have a grandson. he offered michael a job and a house, with just one condition, they had to live in egypt. >> i said, well, the problem is your daughter, my wife, hates this country. she hates egypt. women are second-class citizens there. she can't smoke. she can't drink. >> more people go to the spring training games than they go to -- >> reporter: there was another reason not to move to egypt, michael shannon's son from another marriage. mike was 11 years old when adam was born.

now 27, he recalls the little brother from whom he became inseparable. >> i'd go to bed, and trying to kick him out of my room the hardest i could, get him to go to his room, and knowing that i had to wake up for school the next morning, and my alarm going off at 6:00 in the morning and waking up, and there he is, like already back in my bed, cuddled up next to me. >> reporter: it was idyllic only in pictures. michael shannon says his wife had a drinking problem, something she denies. maryland police records show nermeen was charged with assaulting her husband and placed on probation. as part of that probation she was ordered to undergo treatment at an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center. >> and one time i had to take him to the hospital, and she came in there drunk and tried to remove him from the hospital and they called social services and did an investigation. >> reporter: the couple separated. michael taking custody of adam. nermeen could visit -- >> finish your soup, adam. >> reporter: -- but shannon insisted a third party be

present, his own father. >> adam, you have to open up your second gift. >> honestly, i felt like things started quieting down with my grandfather being there a lot, being the guardian, and nermeen couldn't do as much as she had done before. her drinking had to be controlled. you know, her anger had to be controlled because she did have a guardian there at all times. >> reporter: the situation did get better. and michael shannon and nermeen khalifa briefly reconciled, resulting in the birth of another son. >> jason. >> patty cake boy. >> reporter: jason, born in january of 2001. but the relationship fell apart again. within months, the couple divorced. adam would live with the shannons. jason would live with nermeen. no one was happy. what michael shannon didn't realize was that nermeen khalifa and her mother were plotting to change everything. >> i remember when the time came where they asked, well, would it

be okay if her mother was the guardian for watching adam for a weekend. and i remember how difficult that decision was. >> reporter: august 2001. nermeen's mother, afaf khalifa, flew from her home in cairo to baltimore to visit her daughter. and there was something else, afaf khalifa was asking permission to take her two grandsons and her daughter for a rare weekend trip out of state to new york, to visit a relative. shannon was suspicious but reluctantly agreed. >> i said to my father, i said, well, there's no way she can take them to egypt. i have full custody. i have full rights. i have their passports locked in a safe. how could she possibly get them out of the country? >> reporter: sunday night, the boys weren't back. phone calls to the cousin in new york went unanswered. >> and then it just becomes let's get in the car and go find out what's going on.

where are they? with the bing it on challenge to show google users what they've been missing on bing. let's bing it on. [fight bell: ding, ding] how many here are google users? what if i was to tell you that you would actually like bing way more than google when it came to the results? prove it. let's look up some taco places. i like the left side. yeah? okay, do we need to find out what the waves are like down at the beach? what side do you like better? i like the results on the right. i'm gonna go with the one on the left. oh! bing won! people prefer bing over google for the web's top searches. don't believe it? go to bingiton.com and see what you're missing. by earning a degree in the field maof counseling or psychologyth from capella university, health. you'll have the knowledge to make a difference in the lives of others. let's get started at capella.edu.

to book this fabulous hotel. michael, tell us why you used priceline express deals well, you can see if the hotel is pet friendly before you book it. and i got a great deal without bidding. and where's your furry friend? oh, i don't have a cat. priceline savings without bidding. so, i'm working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. no way! i'm like, what is this, a drainpipe slipknot? wherever your business takes you, you can save money with progressive commercial auto. [ sighs ] [ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. email marketing from constant contact reaches people in a place they're checking every day --

their inbox. and it gives you the tools to create custom emails that drive business. it's just one of the ways constant contact can help you grow your small business. sign up for your free trial today at constantcontact.com/try.

...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. august 22nd, 2001. michael shannon has reluctantly agreed to allow his son adam to take a trip to new york with his mother, nermeen. nermeen's mother, afaf khalifa, has given word that she will watch over the child and return him four days later, at 6:00

p.m., august 26th. it's the first time since the divorce adam has been allowed on a visit with no one from the shannon family present. he will join his infant brother jason on the trip to visit a cousin. their older half-brother mike shannon recalls just how nervous his father was. >> nobody wanted to say it, but the thought always was in the back of your mind, you know, what are they getting at here? why all of the sudden change? but at the end of the day you kind of want to understand that from a grandmother's standpoint, she wants to have some time with her grandson. >> reporter: the shannon family's trust in afaf khalifa was misplaced. thomas fleckenstein, the state's attorney in ann arundel county, maryland, says the facts would later reveal adam and jason's grandmother was the co-conspirator of an international kidnapping weeks in the works. >> she came from her home country of egypt. she came here. she participated in the planning of the removal of the children from maryland.

she participated in the story that was told to the father as to where the children were going to be in new york, when they would be back. the fact that she was visiting was part of the impetus for the father allowing the children to visit and spend time with the grandmother. and she was actively involved in helping the children travel to egypt. >> it was well planned? >> it was well planned. >> reporter: it had to be. michael shannon held the passports for both of his boys in a safe at home. he had legal custody of adam, and jason was not allowed to leave maryland without the father's consent. but there was a loophole. early in 2001, one parent could simply call the state department and report a child's passport lost, apply for a new one, and it was granted. that is exactly what nermeen khalifa had done. the egypt air tickets were

purchased in new york by a relative. the khalifa family arranged for an international moving company to empty the apartment where nermeen khalifa was living. and in the final days of august, afaf khalifa would arrive to supervise the escape. >> do you feel that before this woman, grandma, left egypt that was the plan all along? >> that's what we believe, yes. >> reporter: michael shannon knew nothing until it was too late. clinging to the belief his legal custody, the locked passports, and the grandmother's word would be enough, he waited and paced as hours went by and the children did not come back. >> everyone started pacing the house. no one's returning phone calls. no one's picking up on the phone calls. and then it just becomes let's get in the car and go find out what's going on, where are they. >> what was that day like, when you pulled up -- >> i went to the apartment to pick them up. it was like it was ransacked. i went to the property manager.

what happened? he said there was a truck out here with international moving company, green mail. i finally got ahold of them, and that sunday afternoon i called the baltimore county and ann arundel county police, and i just knew what had happened. >> look at the one picture she left. see the picture above the bed? >> they were out of the country before we even knew they were gone. >> reporter: they had gone straight to new york, straight to jfk, straight to egypt air. and before michael shannon had even realized they were gone, nermeen khalifa, adam and jason, and their grandmother, afaf khalifa, were landing in cairo. untouchable. confirmation would finally come at the most unlikely time. >> oh, yeah. i received a call from adam right after 9/11, and he said, "i'm not in america anymore.

i'm not even in new york," because he thought new york was a separate country. he was only 4 years old at the time. he says, "when are you and pop-pop coming to get me?" and i said, "as soon as we can." >> reporter: shannon had every intention of doing just that. heading to egypt, armed with the law on his side, and bringing his boys home. then he called the state department for help, but officials there said there was nothing they could do. >> you've seen no photos. >> nothing. state department won't get any because they said that the family won't allow it, it's intrusive. i've asked for welfare and wellness checks, and the embassy writes letters to the family, and the family simply refuses them. >> the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon! >> reporter: there may have been another reason for the state department's lack of interest. in late 2001 and early 2002, in the aftermath of 9/11, the

united states was leaning heavily on egypt and its president, hosni mubarak, for support in the war on terror. >> we've got a good friend, americans have a good friend. >> reporter: it would have been a bad time to bring up a minor issue like the kidnapping of michael shannon's two boys by the family with ties to egypt's president. suddenly, michael shannon felt very alone. and in the letter from nermeen khalifa's sister, michael shannon was told, give up. "force and bad tactics will only serve to put you farthest away from your objective," she writes. "the children need to be with their mother. this is islamic law." and finally, eman khalifa wrote, "please don't worry about them. you should be happy for them." michael shannon's fight was only beginning.

♪ male narrator: there's something positive being generated in california. when ordinary energy is put in the hands of extraordinary people, amazing things happen. the kind of things that drive us to do more, to go further, to be better. we're dedicated to being a company you can count on, because you've always been customers we believe in. your energy plus ours. together, there's no limit to what we can achieve.

this is adam holding jason at home. >> reporter: by the late spring of 2002, adam and jason shannon had been gone for almost a year. back in maryland their half-brother mike shannon had been tirelessly monitoring the internet for any electronic clues, hoping against hope. suddenly, afaf khalifa's name popped up in a live chat room. >> and here this name came up on my buddy list for aol. and i remember asking my dad, what time is it in egypt right now? and he said something like, oh, it's 3:00 in the morning in egypt. and i said, what time is it in california?

he said, i don't know, i think it's like around 6:00 or 7:00 at night in california. and i said, well, they're online right now. why would they be online at 3:00 a.m. in the morning? >> reporter: they weren't. nermeen's mother, afaf khalifa, and nermeen's father were in fact at the family-owned condominium north of san diego. they had flown there not knowing that afaf was the subject of an international arrest warrant for her part in aiding and abetting the kidnapping of adam and jason. >> we thought it was too good to be true. we didn't really think too much of it. but hey, what the heck? let's just go ahead and call out there. and sure enough, someone picked up the phone at their home in california. >> i called the fbi. i said, they're in san diego at their house. i called the number. impossible. she's red-flagged. she can't get through customs. she can't get through i.n.s. i finally had the maryland state police call out there and say they were with pacific bell and electric company and ask for her. she picked up the phone. they got the san diego county sheriffs and they kicked the door in within an hour and arrested her.

>> reporter: afaf khalifa spent one night in jail and then was extradited to maryland. >> you really thought that was going to be a break. >> yeah. >> reporter: and it looked as if it was. prosecutors in maryland wanted her to face criminal charges. but mostly, they said, they wanted adam and jason shannon returned to their father. >> did the authorities here believe that that arrest would have eventually led to those children being reunited with their dad? >> well, certainly the charge and the arrest is to prosecute her for her own criminal acts. certainly, if the ability to get the children back and reunite them with their father resulted from that, that would certainly have been a goal as well. >> reporter: it took nine more months for the case to be heard here, in this colonial-era courthouse in annapolis, maryland. prosecutors even offered in writing to drop the charges in exchange for return of the children.

"if this can be accomplished," the prosecutor wrote, "i believe it is in all parties' best interests that it be done as quickly as possible." >> at any time do you know if there was some kind of negotiation with the family in egypt to say, okay, we give, we're going to bring these kids back? >> not that i'm aware, no. >> reporter: a judge heard the case and sentenced afaf khalifa to ten years in prison on multiple counts. a sentence later reduced to three years. a 60-year-old woman, she began serving her time here at the maryland women's prison in jessup, maryland. 14 months passed. then afaf khalifa, the only bargaining chip michael shannon had left to get back his children, disappeared. >> she was suddenly gone. deported back to egypt, before

the state of maryland, before the prosecuting attorneys, before even michael shannon knew she'd been released from prison. >> were you notified? >> no. no. the office was not notified that she'd been paroled, nor that there would be any action taken by immigration officials at the time. >> reporter: if you're wondering how that could have happened, you're not alone. the state department told cnn it doesn't interfere in deportation cases, that is up to the u.s. immigration service. and no one from immigration has returned multiple phone calls and e-mails, asking for comment. michael shannon hired the lawyer who arguably knows more about international child abduction than anyone in the country, who believes the u.s. government not only has done nothing to help, it may have expedited afaf khalifa's deportation. >> these are american boys, american citizens. they're not entitled to be egyptian citizens. and they've been held in a foreign country for 12 years,

and the government unfortunately has done nothing about it. >> reporter: michael shannon turned to an egyptian court for help hiring an egyptian attorney to help him enforce his u.s. custody rights. the case was filed in 2002. it was postponed two years, until december 30th of 2004. then another two-year postponement, until february of 2006. then, nothing. it has lingered in this court ever since. american orders to bring american citizens back to the united states ignored. >> the bottom line is when we talk the american orders to egypt and asked for them to be, in the lingo of this specialty, domesticated, we were just laughed at. >> this was a pure and simple kidnapping with a lot of elements involved, a lot of planning involved. i keep going back to this family that you married into and knew.

are you -- >> never thought they'd -- >> -- still stunned? >> stunned of course. never thought they would go this far. >> but just who is nermeen khalifa? and who is telling the truth about what really went on nearly 12 years ago? it is why cnn came to this upscale neighborhood in cairo, to find the mother who kidnapped her own children and ask her why. >> hello? >> hi, nermeen. this is drew griffin with cnn. >> reporter: it is a story very different than the tale being told in the united states. >> he basically, and according to the courts, feels that you've kidnapped these children and have held them captive here for 12 years. >> i'd like to explain my point of view. >> okay. >> reporter: when we come back, the woman wanted for kidnapping insists she is the real victim. [ male announcer ] every day, thousands of people are choosing advil® for their headaches.

my name is sunshine and i have three beautiful girls. i like taking advil® for a headache. it nips it in the bud. and i can be that mommy that i want to be. ♪ [ male announcer ] take action. take advil®. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. ocuvite. help protect your eye health.

email marketing from constant contact reaches people in a place they're checking every day -- their inbox. and it gives you the tools to create custom emails that drive business. it's just one of the ways constant contact can help you grow your small business. sign up for your free trial today at constantcontact.com/try. still doesn't feel real. our time together was... so short. well, since you had progressive's total loss coverage, we were able to replace your totaled bike with a brand-new one. the tank, the exhaust... well, she looks just like roxy! you know, i'll bet she's in a better place now.

i'm sure she is. [ ethereal music plays ] [ motorcycle revving ] getting you back on a brand-new bike. now, that's progressive. we didn't have u-verse back in my day. you couldn't just... guys... there you are. you know you couldn't just pause a show in one room, then... where was i... you couldn't pause a show in one room then start playing it in another. and...i'm talking to myself... [ male announcer ] call to get u-verse tv for just $19 a month for 2 years with qualifying bundles. rethink possible.

the khalifa family lives here, in cairo's upscale neighborhood of heliopolis. it's where khalifa's father runs his construction, banking, and finance consulting business.

the family lives in this apartment building, owned by the father. nermeen khalifa has kept her sons and her silence here for years. only once agreeing to an interview with an arab media outlet. she's refused all requests from the west until now. >> hello? >> hi, nermeen, this is drew griffin with cnn. >> reporter: though she refused to be interviewed on camera and even refused to meet with us off camera, she did agree it was time for her to talk, at least by phone. >> i'd like to explain my point of view. >> okay. >> reporter: her story is a completely different account of the marriage, the kidnapping, and the u.s. court record on the case. and though it may sound far-fetched in the united states, in egypt and in the middle east it is easily believed that the entire u.s.

justice system conspired against her. nermeen khalifa tells us it was not she that was the abuser, it was him, not she that was the alcoholic, it was him, and not she that kept the family apart, it was him. in a not so unbiased way, told us that an anti-arab, anti-muslim u.s. judicial system is the root of all her problems. >> i left the united states with my kids of my own accord to protect myself and my sons. he's a manipulator, he's a liar, and i had to leave. i had to go. the system failed me. the system was against me. >> and you believe the system was against you because you're arab-american? >> i'm an arab muslim. definitely, yes. >> reporter: nermeen khalifa illegally abducted her two sons and left the country on august 25th, 2001. in maryland, a court hearing was immediately scheduled. it would be held in two weeks. the date, september 11th, 2001.

>> move it! >> reporter: on the very morning terrorist planes were hitting the world trade towers, a maryland state court ruled michael shannon should be granted sole custody of his two abducted children, and the state issued a warrant for nermeen's arrest. to nermeen khalifa, the coincidental date of the hearing and her absence from court proves she's a victim of discrimination. >> and that's the root of all this legal custody issues? >> the ruling happened on 9/11. so what more do you want? the judge granted him custody without even hearing me or seeing me or knowing anything about me. he gave him immediately custody of both kids. >> and you don't feel that that court decision had anything to do with the -- i mean, what i saw on records of abuse by you, alcoholism by you, et cetera? >> this is all his side.

this is all his talk. this is all his side of the story. these are all his lies. and i don't know how it's on record, on court records at all, because i was just -- i never had any rulings against me for any of these things that you mentioned. >> i have the court records with me. i could show you them. i'm stunned that you haven't seen them. you were part of them. >> i have not seen any court records at all. >> reporter: there is no record at all that nermeen herself was abused. again, she says, that is a conspiracy. >> i had a broken tooth and a swollen nose. >> the reason i ask is because i have got huge files on this case through the years and i haven't seen any of that. >> i'm telling you, even the police were biased against me. >> and that's why you fled to egypt? >> why do you have to word it that way? i didn't flee. i was protecting myself and my children.

>> reporter: nermeen khalifa has refused to even share a photograph of adam and jason with their father. >> i'm tired of this saga. i've been suffering at his hands since the day i met him. until now, he's still trying to make my life miserable. he won't leave me alone. the man just won't leave me alone. what does he want? >> well, he wants his sons back, he says. >> well, if he wants to see his sons so much, why hasn't he come here? >> nermeen, baby jason, and adam. >> reporter: back in maryland michael shannon told us he has tried to talk to his boys every year since their disappearance. he says the khalifa family has refused to put them on the phone. he has sent e-mails for his sons. they are unanswered. >> would you know your son after 12 years? >> reporter: he has even asked through the u.s. embassy for a picture of his two sons. the family refused to allow the state department to take a photo. what he showed us are vitriolic e-mails sent by a much different

nermeen khalifa than the composed person we were interviewing by phone. this one sent january 2nd of this year. a profanity-laced diatribe in which nermeen insults shannon's new wife as being "another old hag" and telling him to give up hope of "ever again getting even a whiff of anything of mine." and on the news that michael shannon's mother, her sons' own grandmother, betty almost died, she writes this. "good riddance. another one to feed the hungry flames of hell." when asked why she won't even send a photo or post one online, she says no one has asked. >> i haven't tried to keep any photos from him. she has all the photo albums. >> do the boys know anything about their father? >> of course they do. of course. and they -- both of my boys know everything about their father. i'm not -- i'm not keeping them from him. he can come here anytime and meet them. >> they can't come to the united

states, though? >> no. not yet. >> not yet? meaning when they're adults and no longer under the court custody ruling you will allow them to go to the united states? >> it's up to them. >> they are united states citizens, right? are they at some point egyptian citizens? >> no. i am not going to answer any more questions. i'm sorry. thank you very much. and i hope you air my entire statement and don't take anything out of context. >> reporter: it is sunday morning, the beginning of the school week in cairo. at 7:05 a.m. two teenage boys are about to leave the apartment building where nermeen khalifa lives with her sons. when we come back, are these two young men michael shannon's kidnapped sons? are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. a confident retirement. those dreams have taken a beating lately. but no way we're going to let them die. ♪ ameriprise advisors can help keep your dreams alive like they helped millions of others. by listening. planning. working one on one. that's what ameriprise financial does. and that's what they can do with you. that's how ameriprise puts more within reach. ♪

it shows. we don't run like that. we build john deere equipment the way we always have:

the right way. times change. our principles don't. you don't just have our word on it. you've got our name on it. that's how we run. nothing runs like a deere. discover the full line of riding lawn equipment at johndeere.com/howwerun or your local dealer. [ laughing ] ...is the crackle of the campfire.

it can be a million years old... cool. ...or a few weeks young. ♪ [ laughs ] away beckons from orion's belt. away...is a place that's closer than you think. find your away. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you, visit gorving.com. ♪ itsy-bitsy spider ♪ went up the water spout almost immediately after adam and jason shannon were abducted michael shannon learned how powerless his u.s. court orders and his own country would be in egypt.

he turned to the u.s. state department for help and found out he is not alone. >> we are aware of 22 cases. but remember that this is self-reporting and there might be many more cases. >> reporter: ambassador susan jacobs is the u.s. state department's special adviser on children's issues. egypt, she says, is a difficult country to deal with because it's not signed on to the hague convention regarding children's issues, which allows in some cases for the return of abducted kids. >> as an american citizen whose tax dollars go over there, is there no way we can't say to egypt you want $3 billion a year for your military? give us back these 22 kids that are american citizens. >> well, i would argue that we have a very complex relationship that goes beyond military aid. we are trying to work with egypt's government as they transition to democracy to encourage all kinds of new

practices. and one of them would be adherence to the hague convention or to recognize u.s. court orders. and we'll continue to urge them to do that. but i don't think we're going to just say, you know, we're through with you if you don't do this one thing because we have many things that we want them to do. this is one of them. >> reporter: michael shannon has heard that same explanation for more than a decade. and all that time he has been fighting the court case back in maryland, michael's sons have been growing up here. 12 long years. 12 years not even seeing a single photograph. but that is about to change. it's 7:05 a.m. sunday morning, the beginning of the school week in cairo. and two boys, appearing to be about 16 and 12, are walking out of the apartment building where nermeen khalifa lives with michael shannon's two sons. khalifa has refused to give cnn

a picture of her boys. she has refused to allow the u.s. state department to take a photo of adam and jason. and for a dozen years has denied their father a single image. these undercover pictures, blurred to protect their identities, will be the first michael shannon has seen of his children since august 22nd, 2001. >> listen, i want you to do something. i know he's got a computer in front of you. >> mm-hmm. >> i want you to just open up that computer, and i want you to hit play. >> i see it. and it -- i'm looking at a young man with a black and yellow tie. >> does he look familiar? >> no. are you serious? are you talking about the man with the tie? >> yeah.

and then you should see another shot of a smaller boy. we believe these are your sons. >> it's been 11 years, but my god, that could be him. >> we believe that first boy, he looks like a man now, is adam. and the second -- >> is jason? >> -- who's about 12 years old is your son jason. >> reporter: michael shannon is stunned and in disbelief. >> where's the one with him holding jason? >> reporter: he asks for old photographs to compare. >> oh, here they are. >> reporter: in the confusion he gets the names wrong. it is adam he's trying to recognize. >> i'm looking at one from 2001 right before they were kidnapped when jason was 4 1/2 years old. oh, my god. the ears could be identical. would you know your son after 12 years? >> i pray i never have to be in your situation. so i don't -- i don't know.

>> it could be him. it could be. yes, it could be him. >> he looks like a man. >> yeah. i've spent the last 11 years with the image of a 5-year-old in my mind. >> and what about jason? >> there's no way to tell. the picture i have of jason, he's 10 months old. that could -- >> do you see any of your family in him? >> certainly i do. he looks like my daughter. >> how does it feel to be looking at these photographs of these people and after you said 11, 12 years you can't even determine if these are indeed your son? >> it's why i've been trying to

get a photo for ten years from the government. the u.s. embassy, office of children's issues, state department, they all live down the street. just any photo. if these are my sons, this is the first time i've seen them in 11 years. >> reporter: as we hang up, michael shannon is still not 100% sure. later, nermeen khalifa sent an e-mail to cnn claiming the boys in the images are not her sons, but she refused to give us any pictures. in a phone call to a cnn producer she threatened to sue if these pictures we took were broadcast. when asked why she would consider a lawsuit if the photos were not of her sons, she didn't answer. through it all, michael shannon cannot pull himself away. >> that's definitely not an

egyptian boy. that could be adam. >> what's going through your head right now, seeing these pictures? >> what? why -- why -- why did it take 11 years for one photograph? this is only two miles from the u.s. embassy. >> it is a small victory, a possible photograph. coming up, a phone call to cnn from michael shannon's older son. >> she is a great caring mother. 0 searching for a bank designed for investors like you? tdd: 1-800-345-2550 schwab bank was built with tdd: 1-800-345-2550 all the value and convenience investors want. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 like no atm fees, worldwide. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 and no nuisance fees. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 plus deposit checks with mobile deposit,

tdd: 1-800-345-2550 and manage your cash and investments tdd: 1-800-345-2550 with schwab's mobile app. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 no wonder schwab bank has grown to over 70 billion in assets. tdd: 1-800-345-2550 so if you're looking for a bank that's in your corner, tdd: 1-800-345-2550 not just on the corner, tdd: 1-800-345-2550 call, click or visit to start banking with schwab bank today. only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. try e-mail marketing from constantcontact. it's the fastest, easiest way to create great-looking custom e-mails that bring customers through your door. sign up for your free trial today at constantcontact.com/try. let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house.

hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive.

for years, michael shannon kept a calendar counting each day apart from his boys. he kept track of all the missed birthdays and skipped holidays. for his oldest son, mike, from a first marriage, that calendar was a signature part of his growing up. >> for a long time, i remember every single day was circled with a number on it. i think one was how many days they had been gone and one may have been how many days since we last had contact with them. and pretty soon, numbers were on top of numbers. i don't think any of us -- at that point, none of us could have ever imagined, maybe even a year later, i probably would have told you within the next year, they would have come back. and then even five years later, i would have told you, any day now they're going to come back. i never in my wildest dreams thought it was going to last this long. >> mike shannon is still

searching for his younger half brothers online, holding onto hope that they can be a family once again. >> it's very difficult to pick up where you left off because the last thing i saw was a 5-year-old boy. and if we were to try to pick up where we left off, now it's someone that was my age when he left. so we would just have to start fresh. we would have to start over as a family again. i think there's a lot of good moments to still be had, though. it would just feel really good to close that chapter and start something new. don't act you don't want to look at me. >> michael shannon has since remarried, a third time. and last year, he lost his father at the age of 73. he died without seeing his grandsons again. you want the boys to come home right now. >> they will. they have to. >> what will that be like? >> i dreamt for years of always meeting them in an airport and

seeing them. when a parent loses a child, when they die, you die with them at that age. and my wife, the last two years, finally cleaned out adam's room. everything was the same as the day he left. but i can't stop picturing them as a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old. >> maryland prosecutor thomas fleckenstein says legally speaking, michael shannon has done all he could. >> the only criminal prosecution was done by our office. he brought a civil suit for damages that actually ended up being pretty groundbreaking in maryland. he's won every step of the way. he has availed himself of every legal option that's available to him in his 12-year fight to get his children back. and yet, notwithstanding, having won it every step of the way,

he's still, with all of that, not in a position to compel their return from egypt. >> in washington, ambassador susan jacobs had no real answers either. in this specific case, michael shannon has not even seen a photograph of his children in 12 years. >> and this is true in other of the 22 cases. i'm not going to speak about a specific case. but all of these cases are very sad, horrible cases where one of the parents has been deprived of their children for long periods of time. half of the cases are more than ten years old. and the others date from 2012. but those are only the cases that we know about. >> michael shannon says the last time he spoke with his older son, adam, was years ago, and it was a bitter phone call. >> about six years ago on his birthday, she let me speak to adam. at the time he was 10. and jason was 6.

and he was -- i hope bulldozers knock your house down and they burn down your house. he's been watching too much of the israeli/palestinian thing. and she told me that they told jason, the younger boy, that their father had been killed in an accident when he was a baby, but that adam had told him different, that their father was still alive and he was living in america. >> after we returned from cairo, we got a phone call, too. >> adam, do you and jason want to see your dad? >> a young man on the other end said he was michael shannon's son, adam. most of that phone call was off the record. but he did allow us to record this about his mother, nermeen. >> she's a great, caring mother, very considerate. and she does whatever i ask. if i asked her at this moment to

take me to the united states and give me a ticket, she would love, proudly do it, without hesitation. >> michael shannon believes his ex-wife has turned his sons against him. but against all the odds, he's optimistic to this day. >> it's what they say in egypt, inshallah, it's god's will. they have to come back to the united states. they're united states citizens. >> michael shannon can only hope now for the future, the days his sons each turn 18 and can leave egypt on their own. that is the day he believes they will finally know the truth about their father, that he never stopped fighting for them, that he never stopped loving them, that he never stopped trying to be their dad. >> patty cake, patty cake, bakers man, bake me a cake as fast as you can.